While playing for Arsenal, he contracted septicaemia after breaking his leg and came close to having the limb amputated.

Then, after breaking his leg again, in only his third Fulham match, doctors found a dark spot on an X-ray and were unsure of the implications. Selley was then forced to endure an anxious two-week wait until the spot was simply a cloudy patch on the X-ray.

Selley can now restart what was once a promising career as he bids to fight for a first-team place. He said: "I had my darkest days during that fortnight back in September 1998.

"Up until then the X-rays had shown an improvement and I expected this one to be the best yet because I had started training again. But when I took the film to the physio there was deadly silence because it looked as though it had got worse and I had a big scare.

"The X-rays were passed around five or six surgeons and I had an agonising wait. I went to hell and back because I didn't know if my career was finished, but eventually they put it down to a bad quality of film.

"It was hard and there have been times when I wondered if it was all worth it. Being injured is the worst time for a professional but I have got a positive attitude and I love the game, so I just wanted to get back and play.

"I was devastated to break my leg just three games after the club had paid a lot of money for me. The thing which stressed me out the most was that I hadn't proved myself to the Fulham fans and that kept niggling at me and was what drove me on."

It all looked so different as a youngster as he impressed in for Arsenal. During his six-year spell at Highbury, he picked up a League Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup winners medal, cementing his place alongside Paul Davis in the Gunners’ midfield.

However, he broke his leg in a clash with Mark Draper against Leicester in 1995 and his career nosedived. Selly continued: "I was in a cast for six months and the fracture wasn't healing well so they decided to put a pin and screw in there.

"But after two or three weeks there was a big infection and it swelled to the size of a tennis ball. "It was sore but I was naive and didn't think too much of it, until it got to the point where I couldn't walk on it.

"I had lost two stone in weight and thankfully my dad looked at me and realised there was a problem. He took me straight to the hospital and it was the start of septicaemia. If I'd have left it a little bit longer I may well have lost the leg.

"But they stopped the infection with antibiotics, drained the poison and the leg sorted itself out."

Selley is now hoping to kickstart his career, starting with the FA Cup clash against Wimbledon on Saturday. The 25-year-old believes that he is certainly ready for a game as important as this: "I think I am as fit now as I have ever been.